"Weirdest game I've ever been a part of" - When Dabo Swinney dissected Clemson's shocking 28-7 loss to Duke in season opener

Dabo Swinney's Clemson started the 2023 college football season on a disappointing note. The Tigers made a trip to Durham to open the season but suffered a 28-7 loss against Duke, which happened despite being a 12-point favorite over the Blue Devils.

Clemson started the season with hopes of returning to the College Football Playoff after a three-year absence. However, suffering its worst loss to Duke since 1934 dented those aspirations. In his postgame press conference in September 2023, Swinney had a unique description for the game.

“Nothing that we weren’t prepared for,” Swinney said. “If you really watched the game, we just self-imploded in some critical situations. You’ve got to finish. It was routine stuff, the basics, the fundamentals, ball handling, basic stuff.

“Again, it’s the weirdest game I’ve ever been a part of. "I've been beat. I’ve had my butt kicked many times in my career, but I can honestly say that was one of the strangest games I’ve ever been a part of.”

Clemson threw for 209 yards and rushed for 213 yards in the encounter. It was the 59th time under Dabo Swinney that the Tigers recorded over 200 rushing yards and 200 passing yards in a game but the first time they lost when hitting both benchmarks.

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Dabo Swinney discussed Clemson bouncing back after the loss

It wasn't the way Clemson anticipated starting the 2023 season. However, after the shock loss, there was a need for a bounce-back.

In the aforementioned postgame interview, Dabo Swinney explained the need for the program to put the loss behind them to ensure a successful season.

“You’ve got to get back to work,” Swinney said. “That’s how you move on. That’s what happens in life. You get knocked down, you’ve got to get back up. You don’t let it define you or destroy you. You let it develop you. That’s a choice: We’ve got to let this develop us into the type of team we can be.

“The only thing we know is we can’t be undefeated, but we can have a great great year. ... You didn’t see a horrible football team. You saw a bad result. Everything is correctable. That’s the good news. There were a lot of positives in the game, we just didn’t capitalize when we had the opportunities.”

Eventually, the 2023 season didn't meet Clemson’s expectations under Dabo Swinney. The Tigers finished 9-4, marking the first time they failed to achieve a 10-win season since 2010, leading to talks of parting ways with the coach.